Titles by This Author

In this book, Peter Diamond analyzes social security as a particular example of optimal taxation theory. Assuming a world of incomplete markets and asymmetric information, he uses a variety of simple models to illuminate the economic forces that bear on specific social security policy issues. The focus is on the degree of progressivity desirable in social security and the design of incentives to delay retirement beyond the earliest age of eligibility for benefits.

Titles by This Editor

Two types of changes to Social Security have been proposed. One would keep the current defined-benefit structure but build and maintain a larger trust fund, to be partially invested in stocks and corporate bonds. The other would set up individual funded accounts, also to be partially invested in private markets. Both would raise taxes or lower benefits in the near term to increase funds for paying future benefits.This study addresses many important aspects of these politically charged proposals. The questions discussed include: Should Social Security have more advance funding?

Robert Solow received the Nobel Prize in economics in 1987, and his contributions to growth theory, productivity, and short run macroeconomics have influenced an entire generation of scholars. The essays in this book extend and elaborate on many of the important ideas Solow has either originated or developed in the past three decades.